Prof Michael Wooldridge says scenario such as deadly self-driving car update or AI hack could destroy global interest

The problem, Wooldridge said, was that AI chatbots failed in unpredictable ways and had no idea when they were wrong, but were designed to provide confident answers regardless. When delivered in human-like and sycophantic responses, the answers could easily mislead people, he added. The risk is that people start treating AIs as if they were human. In a 2025 survey by the Center for Democracy and Technology, nearly a third of students reported that they or a friend had had a romantic relationship with an AI.

  • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
    10·
    14 days ago

    The scenarios Wooldridge imagines include a deadly software update for self-driving cars, an AI-powered hack that grounds global airlines, or a Barings bank-style collapse of a major company, triggered by AI doing something stupid. “These are very, very plausible scenarios,” he said. “There are all sorts of ways AI could very publicly go wrong.”

    Ooh, ooh, do the bank one!